[Daniel Millen]

A quick update:

I purchased a Lacie DVD burner and Archival Grade DVD-Rs, but before I remastered the DVDs, I reviewed the (at least the “troublesome/flickering” one) in another player/TV: no flicker.
I tried another player/TV combo (one of those TVs w/built-in DVD players): no flicker.
Tried my MacBook DVD player: no flicker.

My assessment is that my main review DVD player and/or (refurbished) Visio TV is/are the culprits. It just didn’t make any sense that–by all accounts–the video looked pristine when previewed, simulated and VIDEO_TS files played, also looked pristine when emulated via DVD Player.

I feel a bit more at ease and thank you for your very helpful trouble-shooting. This gig is almost coming to a close, now, and I can certainly rest easier knowing that (at least to your/my sleuthing) wasn’t somehow corrupted. Many, MANY thanks. You Bessies are the best!

[Daniel Millen]

Hi, Michael:

Sorry for the confusing post.

I gave DVDSP settings because that’s what I thought DVDSP ‘does’ when you click Build and Format.

Compressor settings are:
DVD: Best Quality 90 minutes
2.0 Dolby Digital audio at 192kbps
MPEG-2 6.2Mbps 2-pass

I gave what’s across all DVDs to indicate that no DVD has more than, say, 50 minutes of video. The amount of MB per disk averages no more than 2.5 GB. Each video/audio file is roughly 600 MB (.M2V) + 25 MB (AC3).

I am using “Send to Compressor” from the FCP timeline.

Not sure what you mean by “proofing” the files. After Compressor crushes them, I do a ‘silent’ review of the video files by looking at them via QT–again, they look really great, smooth dissolves, no flickering, etc.

Also, in DVDSP, I click Simulate, and, when I review the chapters, esp. those that show the flickering/etc. they look flawless. The problem SEEMS to me to be when DVDSP burns to the disk, because when I view the disk on a DVD player (Sony) or on my laptop, the flickering and dirtiness shows itself.

So, if I’m understanding you, I may want to change the default VBR DVD encode settings to CBR of 7. Yet, I don’t “get” why this might be a problem, especially since it looks so darn good as a raw .M2V file. (Not saying it ISN’T the problem, but frustrated why there’s such a disparity between the .M2V and the DVDSP burn.

Also, what I (obviously) don’t “get” is what DVDSP is doing to my files when I click Build and Format. I’m guessing that it’s re-encoding an already encoded file? Is that it? If so, I’m unsure how to end-run this process in DVDSP.

So:
1) If I’m happy with my M2V files, and everything looks good when I simulate, should I just click “Burn” vs. “Build and Format”?
2) Also, when I click “Build and Format” DVDSP ‘nags’ me that, “A Video_TS directory of this project already exists. Choosing Reuse will reuse as much of the current Video_TS contents as possible.” I click on DELETE and do NOT reuse–should I choose “Reuse” instead?
2) Are there other settings in DVDSP (or Compressor or FCP) that I’m missing?

I don’t understand your last sentence: “Your step on is not doing a thing.”

Thanks for helping me figure this out. I’m in very unfamiliar territory.

[Daniel Millen]

Hi, Noah:

No, I haven’t tried compression markers. The .M2V files look great, so I thought that’s what I’d be getting via DVDSP. There aren’t any visually complex animations or video segments, i.e., no moving trees/leaves, etc. Most of this is a parent reading to a child (indoors or outdoors), or a talking head, indoors with controlled lighting.

Granted, I’ve never created masters for mass-duplication, so I’m a bit nervous and perplexed as to why the M2Vs look so darn different when burned to DVD.